Oldest Mandauehanon died of cardio-pulmonary arrest at the age of 106 last Thursday evening.
Olympia ‘Impyang’ Judilla, died in her wooden bed in their house at zone Kalbasa, barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City, around 7 p.m.
Prior to her death, Judilla ate rice porridge and milk.
“She was just lying in her bed with her eyes closed when she died,” revealed Judilla’s fifth grandson, Senior Insp. Ramil Morpos, deputy chief of Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue City Police Office.
He added that his grandmother which he was used to call ‘Mama Limpia’ may have died due to old age too.
“Although sa iyang edad kay bonus nana, sakit gihapon nga mawagtangan ug membro sa pamilya,” he said while saying that his grandmother will sometimes let him massage her head and back.
(Although she died at a ripe age, it is still painful to lose a member of the family.)
Ramil added: We love our lola so much.
Morpos recalls that her lola can longer recognize him. But she knows that she has a grandson who is a police officer.
In fact when somebody steals from their tambis tree, she would say, she’ll have them arrested by her policeman grandson.
Judilla received P50,000 cash from the local government for being the oldest Mandauehanon when she turned 106 years old last Sept. 17, 2012.
She celebrated her last birthday with her only daughter Lucia Judilla-Morpos who is already 76 years old, six grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Born in 1906, Judilla grew up without her parents. She has lived with her aunt in zone Kalbasa, barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City according to her only child all her life.
Ramil remembers her lola as a strict disciplinarian. When he was 10 years old, he remembers his lola Impyang hitting him with a feather duster for going home late – at 5 p.m.
If they get naughty he said, his lola will have them kneel on the floor in front of the altar before going to bed at night to pray.
Ramil said among his unforgetable memories of his lola Impyang was her cooking of corned grits or binuyok nga mais. When its cooked the corned grits will be mixed with salt to make it a little salty and with a viand of ‘tagimtim’.
His grandmother will also give them some bedtime horror stories so that they will fall asleep and also sang them the ‘alibangbang’ song.
In an interview with Lucia during her mother’s 106th birthday she said that her mother chose to live with her aunt since Olympia’s parents got separated when she was still 10 years old.
SINGLE MOTHER
Olympia is a single mother who raised her daughter by farming.
Lucia said that her mother grew up as a hard working person and taught her to never stop working.
Lucia added that her mother didn’t go to school, but can recite the ten commandments, seven sacraments, mysteries of the rosary and angelus in Bisayan and Spanish.
Sanguniang Kabataan chairman in barangay Paknaan, Clark Dale Morpos, is the eldest great grandson of Judilla.
The wake of Judilla will be at their residence in Paknaan.